Known as the "unwanted hitchhiker," emerald ash borer is emerging from its winter slumber to attack and kill millions of unsuspecting Michigan ash trees this year, unless proper funding is provided, MSU researchers said.
"The outreach efforts are not funded at the level they need to be," said Deb McCullough, MSU forest entomology professor.
In 2005, Michigan requested $25 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to eradicate outlying populations of emerald ash borer, or EAB, but only received $2.1 million in November.
Since its 2002 discovery in Michigan, EAB, has killed roughly 15 million of the estimated 700 million ash trees in Michigan. Most of the destruction has been in southeastern Michigan.
EAB larvae feed on the inner bark of ash trees, stopping the tree's ability to transport water and nutrients and killing the tree.
Researchers believe emerald ash borer came into to the United States in shipping pallets from Asia made out of ash wood, said Jim Smith, a Lyman Briggs professor.
Eradication efforts include chopping, cutting and burning the ash trees within a half-mile radius of the affected ash tree, McCullough said.
Outlying sites, where there are smaller populations of EAB, are being cut down to stop it from spreading too far across Michigan, but that is limited by funding, she said. Smaller populations don't spread quickly, she added, making eradication more successful.
"Michigan, Indiana and Ohio are severely limited by the amount of funding that was provided by the government," McCullough said.
Research is currently being done at MSU to figure out how to eradicate EAB from the Midwest before it spreads to the rest of the country, Smith said. It has been found in Canada, Ohio, Indiana and parts of South Dakota.
In 2003, MSU researchers traveled to China to find natural enemies to EAB, but less than one percent of the EAB tested were killed. Researchers are waiting on funding to continue finding ways to combat EAB, said MSU researcher Leah Bauer.
"We have spent a lot of money cutting out little parts but it's not working," Bauer said. "A lot of people are thinking we need to switch to a management plan and containment."
Another problem is when people move ash firewood when they go camping, hunting or to their cottages, which is a good way to start a new infestation, McCullough said.
"We are putting a lot of information to recognize EAB and ash trees but there's no money to distribute it all," McCullough said. "Purchasing advertising in publications or on the radio costs money."
The hardest hit are Michigan nurseries, losing millions of dollars each year due to ash trees that have been quarantined. The quarantine began about three years ago, said Jason Innis, nursery manager at Van Atta's Greenhouse & Flower Shop in Haslett.
Van Atta's has 23 ash trees, or $2000 worth of trees, growing on its property that can't be moved.
"The biggest impact is a lot of the street trees all over the area are being destroyed," Innis said. "In a few years from now, we are going to be really missing one of the neat things of our communities."
